


Te Briirud

by Fanforlife84



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Reunions, Slow Burn, The Mandalorian (TV) Season 2, long lost friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:22:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29864253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanforlife84/pseuds/Fanforlife84
Summary: Alani has spent her whole life simply surviving.  The kindness and gift of an old man on a desolate Outer Rim planet sets her life on a collision course with her past and will completely change her future, and the future of Mandalore.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to take a while to completely finish, but I wanted to get initial reaction. It will eventually be a love story with OFC and Din, but it will most definitely be a slow burn as our protagonist won't even cross paths Din for several chapters. Yet, but the smex and fluff is coming I promise, stick with us!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares are scary because sometimes they're more real than life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will eventually be a love story between OFC, Alani and Din, but it's going to take a bit to get there. There's lost of twists and turns still to be worked out in my brain...please be patient with me!
> 
> Feedback and comments are always appreciated.
> 
> Be well!

_ “You’re too high Alani! We’re not supposed to climb that high!” _

_ “Don’t be such a jawa! I just want to see up there for a minute.” She reached above her head and grasped another branch in her small hand, pulling herself up another few feet towards the slanting rays of sunlight streaming through the treetops not too far above her. _

_ “Alani, be careful!” She heard the voice of her best friend shout worriedly from somewhere below her. She grinned and glanced down, spotting the dark ruffle of hair amidst the vibrant orange and yellow of the tree leaves. She reached for another branch and hauled herself up further, pausing for just a moment to survey the last of the branches near the top of the massive ancient Keyor tree that loomed high above the others in the forest near their village. She carefully grazed a branch with her fingers, pulling slightly to test her weight on it. Satisfied that it would hold her, she gingerly vaulted herself up onto the branch, popping her head above the top of the tree and breaking the surface like a Sterum whale breaking the surface of the ocean to release a breath. _

_ The cool breeze from this height caressed her face as she gazed around at the horizon stretched out before her. In three directions the forest swept along the terrain like a beautiful blanket, afire with colors as the massive trees altered their colors to prepare for harvest. The sun was just dipping below the mountains in the distance, spraying the world with soft pink, purple and yellow light as it sunk itself into its orbit, ushering in the peaceful darkness of night time. In the darkening sky high above on the horizon, she could see the blinking dots of one or two ships floating up and down, entering and exiting the atmosphere, headed for the port city of Dra’acall. There were not too many visitors that came to their small planet, but the city in the distance was mainly where off-worlders ended up when they did arrive. She had only been there a handful of times that she could remember in her young life, the last three cycles during the second winter season she had gone with her grandmother along with many others from the village to sell the syrup and holy oils extracted from trees just like the one she was perched in now. _

_ “What can you see, Alani?” She heard the muffled question below her, closer now than before. Looking down again, she saw the brown mop of hair had climbed higher and was only two or three reaches below her.  _

_ “Ships. And the city. And the forest! Everything!” She said happily, lowering herself so she could peer at her friend better below the tree branches. “Be careful, the branches are weaker up here.” _

_ Brown eyes squinted up at her in a familiar, ‘I know that!’ face and she giggled. _

_ CREEEEAAAAK…..Both youngters’ eyes widened as they heard the tell-tale sound of a branch struggling beneath their child’s weight. Then: SNAP! _

_ Like a shot, the branch under her friend’s feet broke from the trunk of the tree, and he lost his precarious grip on the weaker branches above. She tried to reach out and grab his flailing hand before he fell, but the tips of her fingers merely grazed the tips of his before he dropped downward, crying out as he fell. She screamed out his name in panic. _

_ “Dinny!” _

Her eyes snapped and her body jolted awake from the dream. She gulped in several gasps of air, trying to put the terrified look of her childhood friend’s face out of her mind. 

_ It was just a dream.  _ She thought to herself.  _ He didn’t fall that day. _

Both children had scaled the giant tree that day and perched in the treetop, watching the distant ships hover, rise and descend. They had happily raced back to their village, their hands sticky from Keevor sap, faces matted with sweat and dirt from their joyful play. Her adult heart ached suddenly and painfully.  _ He might as well have fallen _ , she thought. She had lost her friend to nothingness anyway, even though he hadn’t plunged from the tree that warm evening. It was only a few days later that the sky above their village had turned acrid and the screams and explosions had begun….

She shook her head.  _ Stop it!  _ She reprimanded herself. She didn’t allow herself to remember all of that. It hurt too much to remember.

She climbed from the small cot where she slept and stepped outside her tiny shelter, taking a deep breath and looking up at the clear, starry sky. In just a few hours the twin suns would appear and begin their long journey across the sky, baking the land and residents alike, merciless and relentless. At the moment, though, the absence of those suns left the air cold and she regretted not bringing her blanket with her. She had planned to stay close to her home that next day. But she knew the energy of her nightmare would leave her antsy and agitated throughout the day. She should plan to move, to GO somewhere to extinguish some of the energy that had shaken her from her slumber. She rubbed her arms and contemplated where she should head to. She avoided the settlements and towns as best she could. She didn’t particularly need to do any hunting. She supposed she could head to Tosche Station to see if any amplifiers had come in yet, but she didn’t really want to see that sleemo attendant with the filed down teeth; he leered at her every time she went in and she hated it.

She sighed, knowing exactly where she should go, but trying to come up with a good enough excuse to convince herself to put off the visit yet again. 

She hadn’t been out there for several months. She should go check on things.

She had made a promise after all.


	2. A Debt Paid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alani discovers she is free to move on after discovering a debt she made years ago has finally been paid.

It had happened. She found it hard to believe it, but...the old man had been right. 

She had headed out to the old homestead just as the first of the sister suns’ rays topped the horizon. Both suns were low in the sky by the time she crested a ridge looking down on the humble dauble dwelling. She was always cautious, of course, when approaching given the numerous security measures he had placed around the home. She knew that others had come here, too snooping around for something to scavenge or for information on the mysterious hermit. Occasionally she would spot dark blaster streaks along the sides of the house where someone had tried without success to take out whatever power source was maintaining the security features and tracks in the sand never made it any closer than 30 meters anywhere around the perimeter.

Until today, apparently.

She spotted the astromech outside the entrance first. His domed head swiveled back and forth often, scanning no doubt. She was fairly sure she was out of its range, but just to be safe, she carefully retreated back down the ridge and hiked along the trail bed to climb a rock formation overlooking most of the craggy peaks surrounding the home. She pulled out a pair of macrobinoculaurs and returned her careful consideration to the little blue and white domed head. As she watched carefully, a shadow fell across the doorway and then that shadow morphed into a hooded figure dressed entirely in black. Alani gasped as the sight of what he was carrying.

It was the old carved wooden box that the old man had kept so secret from her. He had only opened it once, to retrieve the weapon that hung at her side now, concealed beneath her tunic. 

He had told her all those years ago that someday...when the time was right, someone would come and retrieve that box and it’s contents. At that time he had made her promise: if anything ever happened to him or if he disappeared, he needed her to keep an eye on his home and the box inside until either he or that person arrived. When she had inquired as to how she was supposed to know if it was the “right” person, he had merely fixed her with that gray-blue gaze of his, the small smile on his wizened face drawing out the deepened age wrinkles around his eyes. 

“They’ll have gotten in.” He had said simply, as though it was the easiest answer to ever give.

She had forgotten about that promise until the day that she had ridden out to see him, bringing out a small bin of supplies to keep the old man in good shape. She could still smell the ozone and hear the sizzle from the security measures that had been put in place. He had told her how to unarm the protocols, but when she had gotten closer to his home it exuded lifelessness. The gated fence keeping his small family of eopies corralled swung open on its hinges, tack and saddle still hanging in their place...the animals had been released. She had found the little food he had stored in his cupboards starting to turn bad dread flared in her stomach when she had seen his day pack still hanging on the hook by the door; typically when he would go out on an 

She had found the holo-disc laying on the center table as she had started exiting the hovel. It had taken a few days to find a device to play the message on. When she had made it in to Tosche Station she had convinced the attendant to let her use his mech droid for an extra two credits. The dread transformed to sadness when his tiny, flickering blue image had hastily confirmed what she had already inferred. 

The old man was gone.

That had been over three years ago. 

Now, she watched carefully as the figure in black carefully placed the box on a work pad on the ground next to the droid and settled themselves onto the ground, carefully running their hands along the edges of the box. They opened it and pulled out what, from this distance, appeared to be a holocube, which was inserted into the droid and a small image projected on the ground before the hooded person. She clicked her macros back on and zeroed in on the tiny speck of hologram. Though difficult to make out despite the magnification, she could just make out the old man. The image shook suddenly as the little droid rocked frantically from side to side, his dome spinning as the figure in black stood slowly and turned towards her position on the ridgeline. Though she couldn’t see their face beneath the deep shadow of the hood, she could sense their gaze searching the horizon for her...no, not searching. They could see her somehow. She was certain. Even though she knew she was well hidden and out of range of that droid...This person knew she was there. Just like the old man had always known, too.

He was one, too.

A Jedi.

She felt a cold thread slither down her back as she remembered some of the stories the old man had told her. He had never been very chatty, but once in a while she would catch him on a good day and he would talk more than usual.

She shifted her position slowly and ducked down behind a boulder, her hand brushing along the outline of the weapon hanging at her waist as she did so.

_ “This is a unique weapon,” he had rumbled all those days ago. “Even I haven’t been all that successful in learning to use it properly. The story says that it seeks its owner without fail and recognizes when it is in the hands of one who is worthy...one who can master its skill.”  _

_ She had stared down at the gleaming item, knowing the worth and value of the material with which it was made. Whispers in cantinas and along the smuggler and trade routes about how much even a few measly grams of this alloy could garner for someone was well known, was the stuff of legends.  _

_ When she had tossed it only moments prior, blade side out, she had only been trying to scare off the raiders that were attempting to steal water from the hovel’s corral. She was stunned when the item in question had ricocheted, not only off the bandits, but off several rocks and fence posts, too before returning to her hand, the impact upon catching it sending a sharp tingle through her hand. She had shaken out her fingers and wrist, feeling her hand start to go numb. She had never seen the old man shocked before, but that was the best way to describe the look on his face after the raiders had hightailed it up the canyon ridge and away.  _

_ “Where did you get it?” She had asked him, her curiosity piqued at how something so precious, so valuable had ended up on a crater such as this one. _

_ “It….” He was always so sure of himself, so confident in his words and actions. But not in this moment when he made an attempt to answer her question. “...it was a gift. Long ago. From someone very special to me.” That was all he would say about it as he pressed the weapon into her hands, insisting that it was rightfully hers now. She had practiced with it every single day after that, her aim improving and her dexterity getting better and better. He never made mention of it again, until a few weeks before he had disappeared, during the same conversation in which he had instructed her to check on his home. _

_ “That,” he pointed to the circle at her side, “Is in your care now. Should anything ever happen to me, it will be up to you to care for it. To feel its call when it needs to be used. You must be it’s steward until it can be returned to its people. To return it to its rightful place when the time comes.” _

_ She had always found these riddles so frustrating when he spoke in them and she said so, wondering why he couldn’t just tell her anything straight ever. His clear blue eyes had settled on her pointedly and he had suppressed a small grin. _

_ “Very well. One day, I will be gone and you will be charged with making sure that this weapon is returned to its rightful place Mandalore.” He had held up his hand as she had begun to protest that Mandalore didn’t exist anymore. “So they say. But the Force always finds a way of putting the right people together to make even the most impossible tasks possible. Your journey is only beginning Alani. Mine is very nearly coming to an end, but it will not be the end of this moment. One moment is part of the next and the next, continuing in an unending cycles. Just as the suns rise and the seasons change on some planets, as oceans ebb and flow on others...it is all connected, unbroken, just like this.” He tapped the weapon in her hand. “Every choice you have ever made has been setting you on this path, to this moment, and to every moment still to come. You WILL find a way to return this to its home. You will succeed, even if you don’t believe it right now. The Force flows easily over those who are kind.” _

She remembered how she had scoffed at him that day, insisting that she was certainly NOT kind. She had been too marred by time and situation, by events that had been outside of her control for too long during those dark years growing up, when her childhood had been stolen from her. He had agreed with her in that regard, that she had indeed seen much darkness. But he had always argued that her power did not lie in controlling the Force as he did or skill with a blaster like others. Instead, he had assured her, her power lay in her loyalty; her ability to be kind to others and to think creatively, in spite of the ugliness and pain she had experienced most of her young life. 

  
  


Alani still wasn’t quite sure that that best described her, but she knew that today, her debt to her old friend had been paid. She had been the keeper of his secrets that had lain in wait within his home, waiting for this mysterious figure in black. Now that they had arrived, she was no longer beholden to her promise to her old friend. She had promised to stay until this day came.

She glanced back up carefully over the ridge line. The figure in black still stood rooted to the same spot as before, but it seemed from this distance as though his head had lowered, as though in prayer or contemplation. They seemed to sense that her gaze was back upon them; their head lifted and she could sense their eyes on her once more. Then, she saw the figure raise one arm...a gesture of acknowledgment, an agreement passing silently between them.  _ I’ll take it from here. _

She felt the lifting of pressure from her shoulders as one does when a taxing task is accomplished. She raised her own hand carefully above the ridge one, mirror the hooded figure’s gesture, then scurried back to her speeder parked a fair distance away. As she climbed in, she was struck with the realization that she was free to move on from this place now. This fiery dust ball had been the longest place she had ever stayed other than her homeworld when she was small. But now, one task had come to an end, had been completed, and she was free to go wherever she pleased.

Her hand fell again to the hoop of beskar at her hip. The next task, she knew, would not be quiet so easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure the savvy reader will be able to figure this out, but this chapter is set just prior to "Return of the Jedi"...so, we still have a little ways to go before she crosses paths with our favorite Space Dad Din. But, it IS coming, I swear. 
> 
> Feedback and comments are always appreciated.
> 
> Be well!


End file.
